Granny's Porch

Consciousness starts growing in me as the sun starts to fill the room.

The birds have been up for hours...they have filled my dreams for the last few hours, but now I start hearing them. There are so many of them, yet I can pick out just about every one of them. They are talking to each other...I wonder what they are saying? It could just be a way of letting each other know "I'm here". God gave them a special gift - their songs are so soothing and the best alarm clock ever made.

My eyes are still closed...I don't want this feeling to end...I don't want to wake up - just yet.

I start to feel the cool air of a July morning in Arkansas - we are deep in the Arkansas country-side at Granny and Granddaddy's house. Just a few miles outside of Mountain Home (long before it became a tourist city).

Granny's porch is a simple screened in room attached to the house. My brother and I spend weeks at a time here with Granny and Granddaddy during the summer. I don't know it now, but it's some of the best times of my life.

Granny is making breakfast and I can smell the cooking from where I am. It doesn't really matter what she's making, it could be biscuits with chocolate gravy or eggs and bacon...it doesn't really matter. It's the smell of granny's house in the morning. It's the smell of love.

Actually, I'm awake now, but I don't want this part of the day to end. Later it will be hot and humid. Later we may make a trip into town to the local grocery store. Later we will go fishing in the White River for rainbow trout where the river is so cold that it makes your legs numb when you stand in it. But for now, it's me, the breeze, the birds and granny's porch.

When you fish with Granddaddy you never come back without fish - he just knows where they are and when to catch them. Later my brother and I will explore down the rural road and into the woods. But for now, it's cool and calm. The day is just beginning and my covers are warm and soft.

I'm on granny's porch and life is good. I'm safe and loved and happy... Not a care in the world. For an 11-year old boy from the city, this is heaven...and now as a man of 40-something I go there often when the day is hectic, when I can't concentrate and I just need a little love and safety...